In this project in the Experimental Physical Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division, Weisman will study the kinetics and spectroscopy of azoalkanes and small aromatic molecules subjected to nanosecond pulses of uv radiation. Light-induced dissociation and isomerization studies of azoalkanes will be continued and extended, and quantum mechanical calculations will be conducted to yield a detailed mechanistic understanding of the photochemistry. Some transient absorption and transient CARS experiments will be performed. %%% The mechanisms by which energetically excited polyatomic molecules are relaxed down to their unexcited ground energy state will be explored and clarified in this project. Some of the relaxation schemes are complex and challenging to unravel. Nonetheless, knowledge of the different steps involved in energy relaxation is important to be able to predict the relative amounts of dissociations and isomerizations that can occur in related molecular systems.
